Federal judge in Chicago picked for key Justice job

November 16, 2007|By Michael Higgins and James Oliphant, Tribune staff reporters and Tribune staff reporter Michael Higgins reported from Chicago and Tribune national correspondent James Oliphant reported from Washington.

The Bush administration on Thursday nominated a federal judge in Chicago to the No. 2 post at the Justice Department under new Atty Gen. Michael Mukasey.

The move requires U.S. District Judge Mark Filip to give up his lifetime post on the federal bench to join the Justice Department at a time of turmoil, as the agency tries to move past the controversy-filled tenure of former Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales.

But friends and colleagues said Thursday that Filip -- a former federal prosecutor known for a sharp legal mind and down-to-earth manner -- has never looked for the easiest path.

The new post "may not be the best thing for his career," said former U.S. Atty. Scott Lassar, who described Filip as "a star" in the office in the late 1990s. "He's giving up a lifetime appointment to the district court to take a job that may only last 18 months. I assume he's doing that because he thinks he can make a contribution."

Critical position

If confirmed, Filip, 41, who grew up in Park Ridge and lives in Wilmette, would become the deputy attorney general, a critical position that typically acts as the "nerve center" for the sprawling agency.

Mukasey and Filip also face a daunting challenge: how to restore trust inside and outside of a department that suffered a public pounding during Gonzales' tenure.

The Justice Department was perceived by critics as beholden to the White House, with shifting positions on the legality of abusive interrogation practices and allegations of political influence in the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys.

Filip declined to comment Thursday on the nomination.

Filip graduated from the University of Illinois in 1988, attended Oxford on a Marshall scholarship and went on to Harvard Law School.

After graduating, he clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who swore him in as a federal judge in 2004.

Filip served as a prosecutor in the Chicago U.S. attorney's office for five years in the late 1990s and then joined the megafirm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago.

As a contender for the deputy job, it couldn't have hurt Filip that one of his close friends is Paul Clement, the U.S. solicitor general, and a rising legal star. Filip and Clement are part of a network of former Scalia clerks who keep in touch.

As a federal prosecutor, Filip shared a Justice Department award for his work on the "Austin 7" police corruption case.

He became a lawyer others turned to on knotty issues involving evidence, sentencing and undercover stings, said R. Ryan Stoll, a fellow "Austin 7" prosecutor who also worked with Filip at Skadden, Arps.

"He was just a go-to guy," Stoll said.

Timothy Coleman, who served as senior counsel to former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey, said that Mukasey's and Filip's similar backgrounds -- prosecutors before becoming federal judges -- will help repair the relationship between the department's top leadership and rank and file.

Lassar and others say Filip is remarkably self-effacing, despite his success and credentials.

"I would describe him as 'kind,' which is not always the first word that jumps out to describe attorneys," Lassar said.

As a lawyer in private practice, Filip was unflappable and "deceptively energetic," said Wayne Whalen, his partner at Skadden, Arps. "He can be accomplishing a lot and appear to be quite relaxed while he's doing it."

Whalen said he first met Filip two decades ago when Filip worked as intern for his wife, Paula Wolfe, a top policy adviser to then-Gov. James Thompson.

While a judge, Filip has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and quickly drawn a following among students, Dean Saul Levmore said.

"I think it's really great that a guy like this gets nominated," Levmore said. "This is not a political hack. . . . That he rises to the top is a good sign the system is working."

Like Mukasey, Filip would not seem to be a natural choice for a high-level Washington post. After clerking for Scalia, Filip returned to Chicago rather than stay in Washington and pursue the kind of career track that traditionally leads to a choice government appointment. He did, however, work as a volunteer Republican vote counter in Florida during the 2000 election recount.

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File on jurist

*Graduated from the University of Illinois in 1988.

*Received a law degree from Harvard in 1992; served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.